KINEMATICS OF TIMED UP AND GO, POSTURAL CONTROL IN UNIPODAL STANDING AND FRACTALITY IN GAIT

K.M. Alvis-Gómez^1,2, K.B. Ladino-Becerra^1,2, J.F. Quintero-Morales^1,2, J.A. Rivera-Vargas^1,2, G.A. Pineda-Ortiz¹

¹Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia), Departamento del Movimiento Corporal Humano (Department of Human Body Movement), Bogotá, D.C., Colombia, ²Mechanics and Neuromechanics Movement Analysis Research Group, Department of Human Body Movement, National University of Colombia (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), Bogotá, D.C., Colombia

Background: The Timed up and go (TUG) test is a standardized and validated test in several countries, which has been widely used in the early detection of fall risk. Despite being considered one of the standard tests for evaluating balance, as it involves a dynamic balance challenge, it does not easily and accurately detect alterations or neurophysiological adaptations in postural control and balance in tasks or demands of static balance, such as the unipodal standing pospition, where people with flat feet have been described, who have shown disturbances in the adaptation of the center of pressure (COP) during the unipodal standing (Koshino et al., 2020), or the lack of neurophysiological adaptation on the tibialis anterior in people with chronic ankle instability (CAI) under this same stay not detectable in a purely dynamic test. (M. Terada et al., 2022).

Purpose: To determine the correlation between the measurement of the kinematics in the timed up and go test, the postural control in the unipodal standing position and the fractal gait coefficient in the fall risk analysis.

Methods: Three different tests were performed on a group of potentially healthy adults chosen by convenience sampling:
1. TUG test which was video-recorded on 2 occasions, in a normal gait execution demand;
2. Unipodal Stay Test;
3. 10-minute walk test on flat ground and a length of 30 meters of continuous space with an accelerometer located in the user's sacral area.
For video recording, a conventional HD camera was used at 30 fps. The processing of the videos was carried out under METrabs artificial vision computational routines and 3D pose estimation based on a regional convolutional neural network (R-CNN) algorithm and a deep multitasking architecture for human detection (DMHS) on the video. A fractal analysis of the three tests carried out was also carried out, which was done under Matlab code.

Results: The relationship between the fractal gait coefficient and the risk of falling was identified, and the correlation of the timed up and go kinematics variables with the duration of the test itself was obtained. In the same way, the relationships between the kinematic variables of the TUG with the kinematic variables and statistics of the unipodal standing position were determined.

Conclusions: The fractal analysis of gait correlates directly with the results of the TUG test, becoming an alternative for the evaluation of the risk of falling and balance alteration, offering greater possibilities of analysis than the TUG test itself due to the possibility that provides dynamic and static analysis in bipedal and unipodal conditions.

Implications: The study analyzes a different way to the previously established analysis of gait and balance, which provides more information for dynamic and static conditions and may become a more complete alternative for dynamic analysis of body movement.

Funding acknowledgements: Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia)

Keywords:
Timed up and Go Test
Fractal Analysis
Gait

Topics:
Innovative technology: information management, big data and artificial intelligence
Professional practice: other
Older people

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA

Committee: Ethics Committee Faculty of Medicine - National University of Colombia

Ethics number: CE-0140-22